Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 121 posts

Re: Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

#31

Post by cweagans »

University of the People (https://www.uopeople.edu/) offers a tuition free CS degree program (both an AS and a BS). Many of the course materials are quite old (in some cases 5-10+ years), but this is really only a problem where specific technologies are concerned (for instance, there's a mobile applications class that covers Android 2.x). Many of the more general concepts will still apply.

Note that you do have to pay for exams, which are $100/class. This works out to be ~$4k for your entire CS degree.

Re: Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

#32

Post by xapata »

eranation wrote: post #10
cdancette wrote: post #2

For a master, you have The Georgia Tech OMSCS. Most of the on campus classes are available.

Can attest to that (graduating from it next Friday!). Few points - the main pitch for this is the cost, even if it was not a top 10 ranked MSCS program, it was still one of the most cost effective degrees in the US. The total cost for me was around $8,000 including everything (you can lower it if you take it less slowly than I did). The diploma is the same as the on-campus one by the way. I'm actually attending the c…

Don't be distracted by the rankings. Georgia Tech has an excellent computer science department. Rankings often include mostly-irrelevant details like the ratio of faculty to students. As far as I know, the rankings include essentially no information about the quality of instruction.

Re: Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

#33

Post by tfmatt »

xapata wrote: post #29
dsp1234 wrote: post #4

If you already have a BS (or higher) in another field, then Oregon State University has a 60 credit completely online computer science BS degree. They have 1, 2, 3 and 4 year tracks depending upon each person's available time commitment.[0] If you already have a BS in computer science or a related field, then see this comment[1] [0] - http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate/... [1] - https://news.…

If you already have a BS in another field, you might be better off taking Georgia Tech's MS CompSci ( https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/ ).

Doesn't this program require an undergrad in CS? Why would it be more apropos for another field?

Re: Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

#34

Post by yati »

jnwng wrote: post #27
wyc wrote: post #20

When you're applying for online-only degrees, keep in mind what you're giving up. While the quality of the education may be comparable, much of the value of attending in-person is to build career-lasting relationships with smart, interesting, and trustworthy people. For many of us, sitting directly across from someone else while having a meaningful conversation is still unparalleled by what any communications technol…

(full disclosure, i work as an engineer at coursera) just wanted to highlight that one of the degrees that UIUC (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) offers, the Master of Computer Science in Data Science, is available on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/degrees/masters-in-computer-data-sc... the benefit of this is that the way we structure our degrees, they mostly end up being a collection of courses and spec…

I'm paying for a specialization on Coursera, and while the content is good (also I really like the professor's style so far), there is next to no support available with assignments. The starter code is typically out of sync with the specs, and a lot is left for you to figure out by reverse engineering the test-runner scripts. I kind of enjoy this process, but I know people who got frustrated and gave up (and no, posting on the forums yields absolutely nothing in a reasonable amount of time).

Re: Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

#35

Post by pbhjpbhj »

vesrah wrote: post #22

What is the cheapest route from an AS in something like computer networking to a BS in CS? I'm 5 years into mid-level development jobs, so I'm not sure if it's even worth the money.

Just curious, do you do any comp sci in your developing role, what sorts of stuff; or is it mainly programming.

Re: Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

#36

Post by shawndrost »

If your goal is "become a software engineer", I would recommend you consider other online options. Your rough ROI equation should be "cost = (tuition + time-to-job * delta-in-salary) + cost-of-failure * odds-of-failure" and "odds-of-failure" is the product of graduation rate * job placement rate. Online CS programs tend to have higher time-to-job and unpublished job placement stats. They may still be good options, but this is how I would evaluate.

Other online options:

    * Hack Reactor Remote http://hackreactor.com/remote
        * Disclaimer: I am a cofounder of Hack Reactor
        * "Online classroom" model (work with peers and teachers over videoconf, etc during set hours)
        * Time-to-job: 3 months program + job search, plus you may need a prep class to pass the entry interview
        * Odds-of-failure: See CIRR.org for grad and placement rate
    * Thinkful
        * "Mentor-supported" model (some meetings, lots of flex time)
        * Time-to-job: I think there is some info on CIRR.org
        * Odds-of-failure: See CIRR.org for grad and placement rate
    * Free Code Camp
        * "Self-driven" model (all driven by you, with online text communications and lots of local meetups)
        * Time-to-job: Not sure there is good data on this.
        * Odds-of-failure: See CIRR.org for grad and placement rate

Re: Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

#37

Post by sushid »

tfmatt wrote: post #33
xapata wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you already have a BS in another field, you might be better off taking Georgia Tech's MS CompSci ( https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/ ).

Doesn't this program require an undergrad in CS? Why would it be more apropos for another field?

> Doesn't this program require an undergrad in CS?

No it doesn't.

Re: Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

#39

Post by dsp1234 »

xapata wrote: post #29
dsp1234 wrote: post #4

If you already have a BS (or higher) in another field, then Oregon State University has a 60 credit completely online computer science BS degree. They have 1, 2, 3 and 4 year tracks depending upon each person's available time commitment.[0] If you already have a BS in computer science or a related field, then see this comment[1] [0] - http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate/... [1] - https://news.…

If you already have a BS in another field, you might be better off taking Georgia Tech's MS CompSci ( https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/ ).

"Preferred qualifications for admitted OMS CS students are an undergraduate degree in computer science or related field (typically mathematics, computer engineering or electrical engineering) from an accredited institution with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants who do not meet these criteria will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis; however, work experience will not take the place of an undergraduate degree."[0]

So unless that other field is Math or computer-related, then that's not really going to work, which is why I specifically mentioned "another field".

[0] - https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/program-info/admission-criteria

Re: Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees?

#40

Post by meebs »

shawndrost wrote: post #36

If your goal is "become a software engineer", I would recommend you consider other online options. Your rough ROI equation should be "cost = (tuition + time-to-job * delta-in-salary) + cost-of-failure * odds-of-failure" and "odds-of-failure" is the product of graduation rate * job placement rate. Online CS programs tend to have higher time-to-job and unpublished job placement stats. They may still be good options, bu…

This formula also discounts getting re-hired in a poor job market, no?
Post reply on HN